Ernest Cline (1972 - )

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I recently read "Ready Player One". The unabridged audio version, which I listened to in my car, is read by Wil Wheaton, which is pretty fun in itself. He does a nice job of bringing Wade, the ~18 year old protagonist, to life. I think if I had been able to read this book through without those pesky interruptions, like work and sleep, I would have done it. It is totally engaging, funny, suspenseful, intriguing, and enjoyable. It was hard to stop listening every time I pulled into a garage to park. It is near future sci-fi, takes place around 2044, so not so far into the future that non-scifi fans could not enjoy it. A large part of the story is the Oasis, a huge virtual reality world into which most humans stay plugged as much as possible, because life on Earth is not so great, and in the Oasis anything can happen.

One of the reasons I think this book might be interesting to a book club is that even though it takes place about 30 years in the future, it is still really about human relationships, family (or the lack thereof), corporate bad behavior, poverty, problem-solving, and use of technology, all of which make for a good tale and a good discussion.

Biography

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Cline grew up in the 1980's in rural Ohio and considers himself one of the biggest geeks of all time. He is a huge fan of the Back to the Future film series and owns a 1982 DeLorean DMC-12 sports car that has been modified to look like the time-travelling vehicle from the films. Cline’s all-time favorite video game is Black Tiger, which figures prominently into the plot of Ready Player One.

From 1997 to 2001, Cline performed his original work at the Austin Poetry Slam venues. He was the Austin Poetry Slam Champ in 1998 and 2001, and competed on the Austin Poetry Slam Teams at the 1998 Austin National Poetry Slam and the 2001 Seattle National Poetry Slam. His most popular spoken word pieces include: "Dance, Monkeys, Dance", "Nerd Porn Auteur" and "When I Was a Kid."